Tears of Thunder
by Dark Mist
Summary: There is a new evil that the Reikai Tantei must eliminate. But is Nariko really 'evil', or is she just a troubled girl looking for release? Please R+R.
1. Prologue: Unknown Speaker

Konnichi wa!! This is Dark Mist, presenting her first-ever fanfic here at ff.net: Tears of Thunder. That being said, I now find it my sad duty to tell you that, unfortunately, Yu Yu Hakusho does not belong to me, just like my PS2 doesn't belong to me, my computer doesn't belong to me...wait, none of that made sense. *flinches* Please don't hit me!  
  
Please read and review. Any flames will be used to cook my ex-boyfriend.  
  
Dedicated to Nita Mandalawan ( 6/6/93 - 7/3/03 )  
  
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Prologue--Unknown Speaker  
  
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Running. I am always running.  
  
Whether it be from hungry demons or normal people who hate me, no matter what, I run.  
  
Nothing can stop me. It's not like I want to run or anything.  
  
It's just that I have no choice.  
  
Maybe I don't run physically sometimes, but I am always moving. Away from everyone and anyone. Hurting others before they hurt me. It hurt me too at first, but my heart hardened along with my words, then it didn't hurt anymore. Nothing hurts anymore. Not even when weapons cut my skin and blood flows.  
  
I hate this.  
  
Every day is just one constant struggle. I wake up in the morning, unsure if I'll live to see the sunset. I go to sleep at night, unsure if I'll live to see the dawn.  
  
It's the worst feeling, when I want to cry and the tears just won't come. I try and try to let it out, but when nothing comes, I just feel...empty. That's basically what I am. I'm a shell, not even a mere shadow of what I used to be. Empty.  
  
Some days I just want it to end. I'm tired of feeling empty. I'm tired of being lonely. I'm tired, period.  
  
But the sun rises, and so life goes on.  
  
No matter how much it hurts. 


	2. A New Case

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Chapter I--A New Case  
  
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Kurama looked out his bedroom window morosely. Lightning seared the dark sky as the cold raindrops splattered on the glass like bullets. It had been stormy since that morning, and he had just gotten back from school. He sighed, looked away from the depressing scene in front of him, and sat down at his desk to do his homework.  
  
_Oh, joy,_ he thought sarcastically, pulling out his math book. _Quadratic equations._ He didn't really understand how his fellow classmates couldn't grasp the simple concept of adding (b/2a) squared to both sides of the equation. It had always been so easy for him.   
  
_Maybe it's the demon blood in me,_ he thought, and a smile flitted across his face before it turned serious again. His pencil scratched on the paper, filling in numbers.   
  
Suddenly the window opened, and Hiei leapt through. He was soaked, and the carpet in Kurama's room was getting there. The small fire demon closed the window promptly, then turned to face his friend, smiling sardonically.   
  
"Having fun?"  
  
Kurama sighed and shook his head. "I'm in raptures. Do you want a towel or something to dry off with? That rain looks pretty cold." He moved slightly toward his closet.  
  
Hiei snorted disdainfully. "No. I don't get cold."  
  
"Whatever." Kurama went back to his increasingly dull quadratic equations. "Have you seen any of the others today? One of the teachers asked me to help one of the girls in my class with biology, so I didn't get out of school until later."  
  
"Yeah, which brings me to my point. We've got a new case."  
  
Kurama looked up, interested. Finally, something better than math homework. "What about?"  
  
Hiei was about to answer when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Kurama called, shutting his book, and standing up. The door opened and Yusuke and Kuwabara came in. They grinned at him.  
  
"Hey, fox-boy," Yusuke said in way of greeting. "Whatcha doin'?" He looked at his friend's math book. "Quadra-what?" He turned to Hiei. "And my favorite three-eyed demon! Why are you all wet?"  
  
"Stuff it, Detective," Hiei said dangerously.  
  
"So we have a new case?" Kurama asked. "What about?"  
  
Kuwabara held up a videotape. "It's all in here. Isn't there a TV in your living room?"  
  
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They were just about to pop in the tape when the front door opened and Shiori came in. She smiled wearily at them.  
  
  
  
"Hello everyone," she said. "I'm going to go upstairs and take a nap, so I'll be out of your way. There's soda in the fridge. Shuichi, did you finish your homework?"  
  
"Hai, Kaasan." Kurama nodded.  
  
"Good. Well, all of you have fun."  
  
Everyone waited until Shiori's footsteps faded before playing the tape. Koenma's face appeared on the TV screen.  
  
"Konnichi wa, minna-san," the toddler said around a blue pacifier stuck in his mouth. "Well, you've got a new case, and it's quite a doozy. You're going to have to hunt down and eliminate a very powerful, dangerous, verbally abusive demon. Her name is Nariko and she's a Lightning demon. You shouldn't really have any trouble finding her; she's HOT...did I just say that out loud? I did, didn't I? Anyway, I'm going to take a trip to Embarrassment City, so you guys have fun finding her. Yeah."  
  
Yusuke groaned and was about to press the stop button on the VCR when Koenma spoke again.  
  
"Don't touch that button, Yusuke, I'm not done yet. Anyway, as soon as you four decide to look for her, I'll initiate a time stop. Everything will be normal, people will be moving and all, but time won't be passing. Okay, I'm done."  
  
Yusuke pressed the stop button. "This is going to be terrible, but at least she's hot...well, Koenma says so, anyway."  
  
Hiei snickered. "Are you going to trust a toddler's judgement? We'll have to kill her anyway."  
  
Yusuke chose to ignore that remark.  
  
"At least Shizuru won't yell at me," Kuwabara said dully. Kurama sighed.  
  
"I guess we should get going, then," he said, standing up. The others followed suit, and they walked out the door.  
  
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::A.N::I'm sorry if this was a really sucky chapter, but I've been really depressed and I wanted to get this up. I'll make it up to you on the second chapter, I promise. ~D.M. 


	3. The Search

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Chapter II--The Search  
  
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The four Spirit Detectives had no sooner gone out the door when it stopped raining. They looked up in surprise; they had totally forgotten about the dismal weather.  
  
  
  
"Well, _that_ was convenient," Yusuke said, stepping in a puddle. The sun was starting to shine brightly. "This kind of thing doesn't normally happen in Tokyo, does it? I've overslept a little too much to really know what goes on around here."  
  
"Not that I'm aware of," Kurama replied. "It's too bad Koenma didn't tell us where to start searching. Nariko could be anywhere."  
  
Kuwabara shook his head, disgusted. "This blows! She could be on the other side of town, for all we know!"  
  
"Um...Kuwabara, actually, I was thinking of a bigger picture," Kurama said patiently. "As in, she could be on a different country. Or even a different continent, for that matter."  
  
Yusuke groaned. "Oh shit...this could take a while. Next time I see Koenma, I'm going to kill him."  
  
Just then, a bubbly voice spoke up behind him.  
  
"Well, we don't want you to do _that_! I doubt if Koenma-sama would appreciate that very much!"  
  
They all turned to see who the speaker was. It was a pretty girl with blue hair, sitting on a floating oar.  
  
"Hey, Botan-chan," Kuwabara said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Botan slid off of her oar. "Well, Koenma-sama was a few details shy of telling you about the whole mission--"  
  
Hiei snorted. "So we'd noticed."  
  
"--so I thought I'd better come and see if I could help you boys out." She smiled cutely...well, as cutely as the Grim Reaper can smile, anyway.  
  
"Like how?" Yusuke asked her skeptically. "Do you know how to use any weapons that actually work around demons?"  
  
Botan sighed, exasperated. "No, you baka, I have some clues to Nariko's whereabouts."  
  
"Oh. Where could she be, then?"  
  
The young ferrywoman pulled a guidebook out of the folds of her pink kimono, flipping through the pages. "Well, Nariko's a Lightning demon, right? The good thing about Lightning demons is that they don't like to relocate much...so if there's been weather trouble here in Tokyo, she'd probably be somewhere around here, causing it."  
  
"We've been having storms at least twice a day all this month," Kurama supplied. "Maybe she's causing them."  
  
Botan nodded, flipping through her guidebook again. She read a page in it, looking thoroughly surprised and put out. "Huh."  
  
Kuwabara looked at her. "What's up?"  
  
Botan shook her head. "It says here that the Lightning demon race killed each other off five hundred years ago. They were an extremely violent race, which is why it's so important that you have to exterminate its last remaining member. Nariko could kill every person in Tokyo with a snap of her fingers...it's a wonder she hasn't done it already." She sighed again, but this time in disapproval. "To tell you the truth, I disagree with Koenma-sama's wish to eliminate her."  
  
"Well, this is new." Hiei smirked at her. "Koenma's flunky disagreeing with him."  
  
Botan ignored him. "I don't understand why he would want to kill her. Nariko's the last of her kind and she hasn't done anything wrong as of yet, and she seemed like a good person."  
  
"'Seemed'?" Yusuke asked, flabbergasted. "You've met her?"  
  
"Well, of course," Botan said, frowning at him. "And I feel sorry for her."  
  
Kuwabara scratched his head. "But Koenma said that she was...what was it..."  
  
"Verbally abusive." Kurama finished for him. The taller boy nodded. "Yeah, that's it. Anyway, if she was what Kurama said, why would you feel sorry for her? Didn't she just insult you?"  
  
"No," Botan said, shaking her head. "She only insults the people she feels she might get close to. We were all right because she was quite sure that she would never see me again."  
  
"But why do you feel sorry for her?" Yusuke asked. Botan pursed her lips.  
  
"Because she's been through a lot and she's misunderstood, that's why," she said flatly. "But I'm getting off track. I would advise you to go to the Tokyo Shopping Plaza first."  
  
"But there are so many people there," Kuwabara argued. "Wouldn't she be easily seen, if she's a demon?"  
  
"Nariko is a master of disguise; there's not much that she couldn't turn into," Botan said. "And she's extremely intelligent. She would go to the Plaza for exactly the reason that Kuwabara said. There are so many people there, nobody will notice her."  
  
"Then how, do tell, are we supposed to find her?" Hiei asked dully. Botan opened her mouth to answer, but Kurama beat her to it.  
  
"Lightning demons can't suppress their energy levels very well," he said. "If she had, say, an energy level of 200, the best she could lower it to would be about 170. Not much of a change there."  
  
Botan nodded. "I couldn't have put it better myself. Anyway, you four should go now. Remember, she'll probably be at the Tokyo Shopping Plaza. Good luck!"  
  
They watched her soar off into the heavens for a moment, then turned to each other.  
  
"Luckily, we're not too far from the Plaza," Kurama said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "And since she's a strong demon, all we'd have to do is stand outside the entrance and we'd know if she was there or not. Her energy would stand out." They started to walk.  
  
"I wonder what Botan meant when she said that Nariko was misunderstood," Kuwabara mused as they passed various buildings. "Do you think she was talking about how she was mean to people?"  
  
"Well, what else could she have been talking about?" Yusuke asked him?  
  
"I dunno...language, maybe."  
  
Hiei groaned. "You are such a fucking idiot."   
  
Kurama had to resist the urge to laugh.  
  
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Eventually, they reached the Plaza, a large open area lined with shops. Yusuke leaned against the entrance.  
  
"Well, I don't sense anything."  
  
"Me neither." Kuwabara looked around. There were a lot of people around. "Maybe she's just not here, guys. Let's go somewhere else."  
  
Kurama spoke. "Have patience. Maybe she just sensed us. Try to suppress your energy levels."  
  
A few minutes later, they felt a huge energy coming from inside.  
  
"That's Nariko," Yusuke said, amazed. "What power!"  
  
Kuwabara stepped back a few paces. "Oh, man!"  
  
_There's something different about this energy,_ Kurama thought as he tried to locate the energy's source. _It's not evil, as it should be...it's...I don't know what it is._   
  
Then he saw her.  
  
His first thought was that for an infinitely strong being, Nariko was rather plain. She had mouse-brown hair that went down to her shoulders. A pair of cat-eye glasses rested on the bridge of her nose, which was covered with freckles. She wore a white button-up shirt and a pair of navy blue slacks.  
  
She was walking towards the entrance. Towards them.  
  
"Hey, I found her," Kurama said quietly. They turned to face him. "She's coming towards us. Just act natural." He leaned against the fence, hands in his pockets, staring off into space. They did the same. Nariko walked out of the Plaza, past the Reikai Tantei.  
  
Yusuke began to walk towards her retreating back, but Kurama put a hand on his shoulder. "Not yet," he said softly. "Wait just a second."  
  
After Nariko had gone about ten paces, they began to follow her, walking carefully so she couldn't hear them. She led them through busy streets and city parks. They almost lost her a couple of times.  
  
Finally she led them down an alleyway scattered with garbage. They had done well so far in keeping quiet; she didn't seem to have known they were tailing her.  
  
And then--  
  
CRUNCH.  
  
Nariko stopped dead. Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei slowly turned around to face Kuwabara, who was grimacing.  
  
He had stepped on a soda can.   
  
The girl whirled around to face them. Her eyes were filled with a mixture between hate and anger. When she spoke, her voice shook with fury.  
  
"Who are you, and what do you want with me?" Her voice was cold and harsh.  
  
It was Kuwabara who spoke. "We've been sent here to--"  
  
He never got to finish. Nariko attacked him.  
  
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::A.N:: Okay, there it is. Did you like it? Please review! 


	4. Caught

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Chapter III--Caught  
  
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It took five blasts of Yusuke's Rei Gun to subdue the violent Lightning demon. After he finally knocked her unconscious, the four boys carried her into Yusuke's apartment building. Kurama tied her to a chair with vines. They sat on the couch in front of her, looking at her.  
  
Kuwabara was still rubbing his throat where Nariko had tried to choke him. There was a collar of ugly purple bruises around his neck. "Damn," he said in a raspy voice. "If that's how all girls are like when they get mad, I'm never getting married."  
  
Hiei looked at him. "Then I guess that means that Yukina won't be stuck with a clumsy, ugly baka like you."  
  
"Oh, of course I'm still getting married to Yukina," Kuwabara croaked. "She's not a mere girl; she's a goddess."  
  
Yusuke grinned. "Sorry, Hiei, but I think he's pretty stuck on her. To think that you would be fighting with him over your own--"  
  
Hiei's hand wandered onto the hilt of his katana. Yusuke glanced at it.  
  
"--crush," he finished, wondering exactly what he had gotten himself into. "Crush" was better than "sister", but not a whole lot better.  
  
Kuwabara swelled like a bullfrog and sounded just like one when he spoke. "SHE'S _MY_ GIRLFRIEND, SHORTY!!"  
  
The small fire demon threw a look at Yusuke that plainly said "Great, you're going to die, you incestuous bastard" and scowled at Kuwabara.  
  
"I'm not interested in her. I don't care."  
  
He did care. He cared a lot about his sister.  
  
Kurama had been silent for the whole conversation, thinking about Nariko's energy: how it wasn't evil, how he couldn't find the right words to express its temperament. Now he decided that the others should know about it if they hadn't noticed.  
  
"Hey," he said softly. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at Kurama. "Did you notice anything...strange...about Nariko's energy? Anything at all?"  
  
"No," Yusuke said, puzzled. Hiei and Kuwabara shook their heads.  
  
"Well, I did," Kurama said. "It's not evil, as we expected. Actually, it's not bad at all...for us, anyway."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Her energy...it's like..." He struggled to find words good enough to explain. He couldn't. "I don't know. Her energy is more confused than evil, I guess. I don't know how else to explain it."  
  
They sat there in silence for a while, looking at the unconscious Nariko.  
  
Hiei glared at Kuwabara. "If you hadn't stepped on that can, you clumsy oaf--"  
  
"Be quiet, you two," Yusuke said tiredly. "I don't want to hear it right now."  
  
To his surprise, they obeyed. There was silence for the next five minutes.  
  
Nariko shifted in her chair and opened her eyes, which had a slightly dazed look to them. As she caught sight of the boys in front of her, though, she became alert.  
  
  
  
"Who are you?" she asked in a soft, angry voice. "Where am I? What do you want with me?"  
  
Kuwabara opened his mouth to speak, but Kurama said swiftly, "I think that I'd better do the talking now, Kuwabara."  
  
Kuwabara shut up. Kurama continued.  
  
"We're the Reikai Tantei; I'd expect you know what they are."  
  
Nariko nodded, not taking her eyes off them.  
  
"We're in Yusuke's--" he indicated Yusuke, who raised his hand so Nariko could see him. "--apartment; the living room to be precise. And, to be blunt, we've been sent to kill you."  
  
He expected her to burst into tears, beg for her life, start straining against her bonds. Anything besides the satisfied, knowing look that she gave him.  
  
"Well, finally you come," she said. "I knew that it would happen someday. Me being captured and killed, I mean."  
  
Yusuke stared at her. "Nani?" he said, puzzled. "You were..._expecting_ us?"  
  
Nariko smiled bitterly. "Well, of course. There's not much to do over the course of 550 years than await your own death, is there." It wasn't a question. She looked at Kuwabara, surveying him over her glasses. "Kuso, you're ugly."  
  
Kuwabara swelled up again, but didn't speak. He had a certain respect for girls. Yusuke laughed at him. "She's right, you know."  
  
Nariko turned her head to face him. "You really shouldn't talk. You're almost as bad-looking as he is."  
  
"Well, at least I'm not plain looking!" Yusuke shot back. "Do something with yourself!"  
  
"I don't think the fact that this isn't my true form has sunken through your thick head," she replied loftily. "This is a disguise, as I'm sure that girl with the oar told you. I'm not particularly fond of this illusion, but it keeps me unnoticed, for the most part."  
  
"Then let's see your true form," Hiei said dully. Nariko glanced at him.  
  
"Aren't you going to kill me?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her hard voice. "Isn't it your 'job'?"  
  
Yusuke rolled up his sleeves. "Of course it is," he said. "We just want to see the real you before you die."  
  
Kurama took a step towards him. "You're not really going to kill her, are you?"  
  
"Sure I am." Yusuke seemed surprised at the question. "We have to, remember?"  
  
"Won't your mother notice if there's blood all over the living room?"  
  
Yusuke snorted. "Yeah, right. She'll come home so wasted that she won't even notice if she's ankle-deep in the stuff."  
  
Kuwabara groaned. "Ursai, Urameshi, you're making me sick." Yusuke ignored him, cracking his knuckles. "Let's do this." He pulled back his fist to punch her in the neck. "True form or not, I'm afraid you've got to go. Any last words?"  
  
She glared at him. "Bite me."  
  
Yusuke's rock-hard fist flew forward, the angle perfect for a somewhat quick kill, even though he couldn't guarantee a painless one. It would shatter her windpipe, and she'd be dead within the next minute or so. His fist was about a foot away from her throat when it landed in someone's hand.  
  
Kurama had blocked Nariko from the blow, catching it himself. His emerald green eyes looked into Yusuke's puzzled brown ones imploringly.  
  
"No, Yusuke," he said softly but firmly. "Don't do it."  
  
Yusuke withdrew his fist. "But..." he began blankly. "Why?"  
  
"It's not worth it." Kurama lifted his hand, which made the vines disappear, and turned to look at Nariko, who surveyed him with a nonplussed gaze.  
  
"Do you expect me to be grateful?" she asked him. "I didn't ask or want you to save me; you did it for your own petty wishes."  
  
Kurama sighed wearily. "To tell you the truth, I didn't expect anything from you." He turned back to Yusuke. "Don't do it."  
  
The delinquent hesitated, then dropped his arm, still looking at Nariko, who stared back at him sullenly. "Fine, you get to live a little longer. You're going to have to stay here, though...we don't want anyone finding out that you're still alive. You can stay in the guest room and borrow some of my mom's clothes. She won't care."  
  
"But Keiko-chan will," Kuwabara muttered.  
  
"What Keiko doesn't know won't hurt her," Yusuke replied.  
  
To everyone's surprise, Nariko nodded curtly and made her way to the bedroom. Just before she entered, she turned around to face the others, who had formed a circle, talking in low voices. "Hey."  
  
The four boys looked up, expecting to see a slightly nerdy-looking girl. What they did see, however, made their jaws drop.  
  
The girl with mousy hair and glasses was gone. In her place stood a goddess with chin-length black hair and dark purple eyes that were quite visible against her creamy white skin. The white sweater and blue slacks were gone, but a tight black leotard-like outfit with a skirt attatched replaced the aforementioned clothing.  
  
  
  
Needless to say, the boys were very happy about this.  
  
"Well," Nariko said indifferently. "This is me." She smirked at them. "I guess you're the one who should pay more attention to their looks now, huh, Urameshi?"  
  
They were still gaping at her when the door shut with a snap.  
  
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::A.N:: Ah, the plot thickens...Anyway, please review and tell me your thoughts. ~D.M. 


	5. A Dark Room

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Chapter IV--A Dark Room  
  
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When Yusuke woke up the following morning, he expected Nariko to be long gone; maybe she had jumped out the window or flew out or something. However, when he left his bedroom and entered the living room, he found her sitting on the sofa, fully dressed, looking at him.  
  
"You wake up really late, has anyone ever told you that?"  
  
Yusuke yawned. "As a matter of fact, yes." He sat next to her on the sofa. "I thought you would have left already. I put you in a room with an easy escape route. You could have just climbed out the window and you would have been gone."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Then why didn't you do it?"  
  
Nariko closed her eyes. "It wouldn't have made a difference if I had left or not."  
  
"Do you want us to kill you or something?"  
  
"I said it wouldn't have made a difference! Are you not processing that? Do I have to write it down for you?"  
  
"Why are you acting like such a bitch?"  
  
"Because I can, now fuck off!"  
  
"Sure. Any time, any place." Yusuke grinned.  
  
Nariko stalked to the door and tried the knob. It was locked. She turned to Yusuke, who was still grinning.  
  
"Go ahead, bust down the door, I don't care. I think, though, that the noise might attract some people who will be wondering who left the poor Urameshi family without a door."  
  
  
  
Nariko glared at Yusuke with such hate and malice that he had to look away. "You...you _bastard_!"  
  
Yusuke didn't stop smiling. "That's me."  
  
"I hope your face gets stuck with that stupid grin on it, you jerk!"  
  
She stalked into her room and slammed the door so hard that dust fell from the ceiling. Yusuke shook his head, the smile disappearing from his face.  
  
"Why didn't I just kill her and get it over with?"  
  
There was a knock on the door. "Hey Urameshi! Open up!"  
  
Yusuke stood up and let Kuwabara in. The tall orange-haired boy entered and sat on the couch. "What was all that racket about? People shouting, doors slamming...why are you picking on her, you big bully?"  
  
Yusuke rolled his eyes. "I wasn't picking on her. She was being a bitch, so I decided to mirror her attitude." He plopped himself down on the other side of the sofa. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Oh, well I just wanted to see how you were doing with Nariko," Kuwabara said. "Kurama should be here soon; I don't know about Hiei."  
  
"You don't know anything about Hiei."  
  
"Exactly. I also don't know when he's coming." He looked around. "Where is Nariko, anyway?"  
  
The black haired boy jerked a thumb in the direction of the guest room. "In her room, having a temper tantrum."  
  
The door opened again, and Kurama walked in. "What happened in here? I could hear Nariko shouting at someone from a block away." He leaned against the glass door leading to the balcony. "Which one of you was it?"  
  
"Urameshi," Kuwabara said promptly. "He was bullying her."  
  
Kurama turned towards Yusuke, eyebrows raised. Yusuke stood up angrily. "Oh, for Kami's sake, I wasn't bullying her! She was being a bitch and I decided to--" He broke off, noticing that Kurama had stopped listening. He was standing outside Nariko's door, listening for any activity in there. He reached for the knob.  
  
"Don't open it, Kurama--" Yusuke advised.  
  
"She'll kill you--" Kuwabara warned him.  
  
He opened it, against his friends' advice, and entered.  
  
Nariko was lying down on her back on the made bed. She didn't look up to see who the intruder was.  
  
"Go away, Kurama."  
  
Kurama didn't go away. Instead, he closed the door and leaned against it. "Why are you making things so hard for everyone?"  
  
"Because I can."  
  
"We haven't done anything to hurt you, so I don't understand why you're being so difficult."  
  
"I don't understand why you won't leave me alone."  
  
"Why do you hate us?"  
  
"I hate everyone."  
  
"You don't mean that."  
  
"Oh, but I do." Nariko sat up to look at Kurama, her eyes blazing. "I do, Kurama. I've hated everyone for most of my stupid little life."  
  
Kurama looked at her, puzzled. "But...why?"  
  
Nariko glared at him. "I have my reasons." She laid down again. "Now go away."  
  
The red-haired boy shook his head. "Nariko--"  
  
"Do you want to help me?"  
  
"All of us do."  
  
"Then leave me alone."  
  
Kurama exited the room and shut the door, shaking his head. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei, who had recently arrived, were staring at him.   
  
"So?" Yusuke asked. "What happened?"  
  
Kurama shrugged, sitting down on the couch. "She told me to leave her alone."  
  
Kuwabara sighed and leaned back. "It figures."  
  
Hiei turned his ruby gaze onto Kurama. "Why did you save her?" he asked. "She's only going to give us grief."  
  
"But you don't understand," Kurama said softly. "She doesn't deserve any of this. She isn't evil."  
  
"We got that part, Kurama," Yusuke said wearily. "But _what is she_?  
  
Kurama remained silent, staring at the wooden floor. After several minutes, he spoke.  
  
"It's like her spirit's locked in a dark room," he said, so quietly that the others had to bend closer to him so they could hear. "Her spirit throws itself against the door, screaming, begging to be let out, but no one's around to hear her. Each time her spirit throws itself against the door, it gets hurt a little more. I guess this will go on and on...until she dies."  
  
They were silent for a little while, absorbing what Kurama had just said.  
  
"So what you're saying," Yusuke said slowly, "Is that the brat who shut herself in that room is...sad?"  
  
"That's exactly what I'm saying."  
  
Yusuke stood up and paced around the room. "It's pretty hard for me to believe. If she's sad, why is she acting so angry? I don't feel sorry for her."  
  
Kurama smiled slightly and stood up. "I'll come tomorrow to check on her. In the meantime, try not to antagonize her." He walked out the door.  
  
They stared at the closed front door as if they could see his retreating back. "What's with him?" Kuwabara asked. "Who could feel sorry for her except Botan-chan?  
  
Hiei blinked. "Baka kitsune," he muttered, but not in a vicious way.  
  
Yusuke groaned. "I just hope that Nariko's not like this tomorrow."  
  
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::A.N:: Hmm...yeah. Please review. ~D.M. 


	6. Unexpected Emotions

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Chapter V--Unexpected Emotions  
  
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The day after that, it was more of the same. Kurama checked on Nariko, who repeatedly told him to leave her alone. He didn't find anything that told him why she acted the way she did or how they could help. This went on for about two more weeks.  
  
Until...  
  
Kurama entered Nariko's room again. She was on the bed lying on her back, her usual pose.  
  
She sighed. "Kurama, go away."  
  
Kurama leaned against the closed door. "It's been two weeks since I started coming here. You've only become more difficult. Why won't you talk to me?"  
  
"Because I want you to go away, that's why."  
  
"I want to help you."  
  
"I don't want any help. Especially from you."  
  
"Why can't you just listen to me?"  
  
Nariko sat up, anger and hate glistening in her eyes.  
  
"No! Why can't _you_ just listen to me? I don't want any of your pity; I want to be left alone. Can't you see that? I don't want you to feel sorry for me. I don't want _anyone_ feeling sorry for me. Just go away, Kurama! For the love of Kami, just go away!"  
  
"Nariko..."  
  
A wave of emotions passed through the Lightning demon's face. Before Kurama could see what any of them were, however, she had buried her face in her pillow.  
  
"Go away, Kurama," she said in a muffled voice. "Go away...onegai..."  
  
He had never heard her use the word "onegai" before.  
  
For once, Kurama did her bidding without an argument, shutting the door quietly for the girl whom he felt a huge admiration for.  
  
He didn't feel anything for her looks. Sure, she was gorgeous, but beauty is only skin-deep.  
  
When he looked at Nariko, he saw a child, a wide-eyed, frightened child concealed in a tough outer shell hiding a hurt that was deeper than any other pain that he had ever seen, deeper than a wound that even the sharpest object could make. He saw a child locked in a dark room that was devoid of sound except for her own screams of torment.  
  
And yet she still had the courage to go on, facing obstacles that would have broken him a long time ago.  
  
All Kurama wanted to know was how he could make the pain go away. How he could make the bleeding stop. What caused this terrible hurt inside her.  
  
She wouldn't tell him.  
  
Three days later, on a rainy afternoon, he checked on Nariko.   
  
She was gone.  
  
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::A.N:: Heh heh heh. What in the Three Worlds could have happened to Nariko?? Please review. ~D.M. 


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